*Ash*

Amber argues that St. Elmo’s Fire is worth watching for college students because, “It demonstrates how graduation signifies the end of innocence and the beginning of adulthood.” I agree with thid quote i was not in class to see this movie because i was sick, but i did rent it on my own time. I think that this quote really demonstrates what the whole movie is about, it is the type of movie that shows how just going from a teenager to adulthood can be life changing. This movie had to do with groups of friends, just out of college that struggle with adulthood. Their main problem is that they’re all self-centered and annoying. It is a film that has a young cast in it, but it is a film that does a great job of dealing with a real life issues. I didn’t take any quotes out of the movie because i think that the one that Amber chose pretty much covered the whole movie.

“And my life was put in the hands of young men I would otherwise never have met, by and large high-school dropouts, who turned to be among the finest people i have ever known.”

I chose this quote because I liked how the writer brought this up in his essay, i thought it was really interesting how he explains this statement or should I say quote so well, it really made me realize that some of those people who had dropped out of my high school a lot of them probibly had no where to go, so they did turn to the Military or the Marines or some part of the guards. It also reminded me of my brother’s best friend, he was a high school dropout and has been in the guards for a while now, he is one of the most respectable people i’ve ever met and what I truely call a hero. Even though having a high school deploma is important to many people, often times having to take that risk and turn to something that you feel is more important in your life, like fighting for our country.

I think the author’s thesis is trying to get others to understand that the draft is often better for our people instead of them having to try to munipulate men or women into joining.

-There is a white car that has got into an accident, the boat and the ground is holding the car up from going in the lake.

-lady standing at the scene of the accident (people in the backround)

-car smashed in on the left side.

Conclusion-Seems to me that the lady or man that was driving accidently floored the gas instead of stepping on the break to park in the parking lot.

My First Conk

I chose this quote, because I think it is really important that people expecially kids know the being yourself is the most important thing. I think the thesis is trying to tell people that a lot of people have felt this same way and have been in a similar situation, but the writer also showed that he learned a lot from this, that he figured out what was more important. After reading this essay, it made me flash back to middle school and high school, that a lot of my friends and even I went through a similiar stage, i like how the writer also makes everyone feel like it happens to everyone even the people you’d least expect.

I am meeting with Lucky Luck at Keystone Bluffs Thursday October 18th.

My narrowed topic is based the time in his life when he met his wife and had his children.

Intereiw questions

1.) What kind of vacations did you and your wife/family go on(if any)?

2.) How did you meet your wife?

3.) Was being in the Army hard for you when you and your wife were together?

4.) What was your wedding like?

5.) Where did you raise your family?

6.) What is a good memory you have when your kids were young?

7.) Can you describe what your house, and neighborhood was like?

8.) how old are your kids now?

9.) How did you decide to name your kids Jeff and Jan?

10.) How much did you make when you were working?

The man that I interveiwed was Lucky luck, he was born in may 1917 and is now 90 years old. He is still married to his wife Mildred for 50 years, they are living together at Keystone Bluffs Nursing home. Lucky is a very quiete kind of guy, but loved to talk about his wife and two kids, so I decided to focus my essay on his family.

1.) What is your full name?

2.) Where did you grow up, and how was your way of living?

3.) What year were you born, and where were you born?

4.) What was your way of communicating? (phone)

5.)How did you get from one place to another-transportation?

6.) What was one of your best memories as a child?

7.) Were/are you married, and what year?

8.) What was your education like?

9.) Do you have children or grandchildren?

10.) What kind of work did you do?

11.) What is something you did that kids now will never experience?

12.) What did you do for fun when you were a kid?

My grandmother Laurel Johnson(olson) was the oldest of eight children. She grew up on a farm in a small town called Wrenshall Minnesota. She had to help raise all eight of her brothers and sisters, because her father died when she was only 15 years old. Her mother had to provide food for her family, so she had to work all day in the feilds. They had really struggled to keep their family clothed, bathed, fed, and even sheltered. Back then working on a farm with only one adult and maybe three young boys helping run it wasn’t the easiest way to survive out in the country. I am very fortunate to have such a weaththy family, and I have realized back then there are so many other grandparents that have gone through the same thing or even worse. I’m sure my grandmother had experienced a lot of cool things that I will never experience, but learning about the way she had to really work hard to survive is something I would never want to go through, and hopefully never will.

“Comedians have made jokes about gay-marraige contreversy along predictable lines..”

 Sure that’s a comedians job is to make anyone and everyone laugh, but to me making fun of gay-marraiges is probibly not something that is a great topic. I don’t necesarily disagree with gay -marraige it’s just something that’s someone’s personal choice and their business. I believe that anyone and everyone should have the right to be happy, and if two gay couples want to get married then so be it! Comming back to the quote, i beleive that sometimes comedians have topic that are too scetchy to talk about, and gay-marraige is one.

Ashley De Smet

English 1106

Sept. 25, 2007

Essay 1- Identity

Classification

The end of eighth grade at East Middle School in Superior, when I started to grow up was one of my worst childhood experiences. Weighing 90 lbs, and with a tall, lanky height of 5’3’’ was not something I was proud of or something I could have controlled. To most people they assumed I wanted to be so tall and skinny. I was the type of girl that was extremely shy because of being called names such as “anorexic,” “bulimic,” and “grossly skinny. “ I can remember people used to always tell me that I needed to eat more, which was one of the things that really got on my nerves.  

My least favorite part of the day was lunchtime. Don’t get me wrong, I loved to eat, but I had to listen to Kara and her friends say to me almost every day “Wow you sure eat a lot for how skinny you are.” I knew exactly what she was thinking when she said things like that. She was curious to know if I was headed to the bathroom after lunch to throw it all up.  

Kara was the type of girl that every guy liked and every girl wanted to be. Sure, my friends Kaylyn and I say by her at lunch, but it wasn’t my choice it was my friends who sat by her because they wanted to fit in. I really did not want to sit by her, but with my friends at her table and nowhere else to sit, I really didn’t have a choice. Kara’s favorite thing to do was stare at me in the hallways when I walked by, because she knew it bothered me, which made me feel even more self-conscious. What really worried me was I knew there were other people staring at me wondering the same thing, it made me want to crawl into a hole and never come out.  

Towards the end of the year I started sticking up for myself, and realizing that there is more to life than what people were saying or thought about me. I finally got the courage to stick up to Kara and her friends. The day I stuck up for myself was right in the morning before classes started for the day. I was walking down the hallway when I saw her staring at me with the fake smile on her face, and I stopped turned around and said “Whatever you’re saying is not true and the rumors that you are spreading are definitely not true, whatever you’re doing is only making my life miserable, especially when I can’t stop the rumors that were said about me, and there are so many other people like me too I just don’t get how someone can be so mean!” The look on Kara’s face was priceless; I could tell she was surprised to hear me say that. After a short pause and a surprised look on her face, she said “Ashley I’m seriously so sorry I had no idea that you felt like this, and I had no intensions to make you feel bad about yourself, what I did I know was really rude and I feel bad now.”  Hearing her say that really did make my day, maybe she really didn’t “mean to hurt me,” but all that mattered was I did the right thing.  

I told her that there are plenty of people like me, and that I cannot help being so skinny and tall. By telling her how I felt and that I was not bulimic or anorexic, she finally agreed that what she did was wrong. To this day I still believe that it was her own insecurity that made her act the way she did.  

After I talked to her lunch was not awkward anymore. I was not ashamed to eat in front of her or her friends. I started to enjoy lunch, and ended the year with more friends than I started with. This experience made me more outgoing and less self-conscious about how I looked.